Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Early life forms may have been terrestrial
A controversial theory suggests that at least some of the earliest widespread complex life forms lived on land.
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- Science & Society
Descending to the Challenger Deep
Director James Cameron reveals the science of his deep-sea exploration.
- Life
Among bass, easiest to catch are best dads
Recreational fishing may be inadvertent evolutionary force, favoring cautious fish over better caretakers of the young.
- Life
Immune disease an added blow to fungus-ridden bat populations
Rare immune complication previously seen only in people devastates animals that had appeared to evade white nose syndrome.
- Earth
Grand Canyon could be much older than thought
Disputed dating of rock erosion pegs the ancient chasm as 70 million years old.
- Earth
Shrinking polar ice caused one-fifth of sea level rise
Comprehensive analysis quantifies ice sheet loss in Greenland and Antarctica.
- Life
Trees worldwide a sip away from dehydration
Plumbing systems operate on a razor’s edge, making even moist forests highly vulnerable to drought.
- Earth
Mexican silver made it into English coins
Chemical tests of currency help reveal where New World riches flowed.
- Earth
Gulf spill harmed small fish, studies indicate
Effects vary but dire impacts seen with some very low exposures.
- Earth
Global drought may have changed less than thought
Simple models have overestimated drying over past 60 years.
